Curious Night
by Crimson Dracul
Summary: A one shot that i wrote after an interesting debate I had with someone about Rin's look. One restless night Nitori notices Rin has disappeared from the dorm. Could this have anything to do with the strange dust Nitori found earlier that day?


Nitori couldn't sleep.

Something was eating away at his mind and he just couldn't shake it. What were those strange bits of dust on the floor of the dorm?

Nitori turned his head back down to the floor, there was no light but the from the new moon shining through the window. But even in the faded light of the dorm room, he could still place the spot where he found that stuff on the floor just a few centimetres from the doorway. It was almost as fine as flour but when he had reached out to touch it earlier, it embedded in his finger almost like a rock. At first he thought it was sand, but why would it be so white then? Besides he hadn't been to the beach in months, and neither had Rin.

Now it wasn't unusual for Nitori could overthink things or worry easily, but he knew there was something just not right about this dust. From his place on the top bunk, his gaze went from the doorway to the desk across the room. The alarm clock now said 2:14am, he needed to sleep. Everyone else was asleep in the building and will be up in the next few hours for swim practise. The air was cold and the whole place silent, apart from the light breathing of Rin in the bunk below.

'Don't let it bother you and just rest for tomorrow's practise', Nitori repeated in his mind, almost like a mantra to calm his thoughts down. Finally he closed his eyes and feigned sleep in hopes of tricking his overworked brain into relaxation.

~

The slight swing of the bunk was enough to awake the timid Nitori out of his half asleep state. His eyes stung as he opened them, all he wanted was to rest but this slight sound was enough to bring back his confusion.

The bunk beds movement was shortly followed by the sound of Rin's unusually soft steps. The grey haired teen listened as the steps grew lighter and more distant, the handle of the door creaking, and finally, the subtle yet final noise of the door shutting once again.

Nitori waited in silence. Rin hadn't returned yet. He moved himself into a sitting position as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. To his right there was the bright red numbers in the alarm clock- 2:43am.

His mind raced to create scenarios of his absent roommate: 'he's probably just in the bathroom', 'a midnight snack?', 'maybe he's gone for a run extra early? Rin is so dedicated to his training'- 'but why didn't he put on sneakers then?' That last thought resonated with the teen more than it should of, he climbed down from the bunk and shuffled slowly to the dresser. Rin's shoes were still lined up orderly along the wall next to it. Nothing was out of place.

'Well... He'll be back soon then I'm sure! He wouldn't go that far without shoes or a jacket' the red heads coat also remained on the desk chair.

The soft and abrupt beep drew Nitori's blue eyes back to the alarm clock. "Three a.m? Oh great it's later than i thought!" He mumbled quietly. He turned back to the ladder on the bunk, but his brain didn't shut up and drew something more serious to the teens attention, 'Rin isn't back.'

Suddenly the room felt colder, but it wasn't a drop in temperature, it was a superstitious shiver down the grey haired teens spine. He worried easily, but now he was nervous. Nitori tensed and loosened his shoulders, calmed his breathing and stood in the silence for what felt like at least an hour. There was no way sleep was an option now, and he felt an equal mixture of nerves and curiosity.

He jumped to a conclusion- 'I have to find Rin'.

Nitori pulled his team Samezuka jacket down from its hanger on the door, and left the dorm room. 'Once I find Rin, I'll come back and go to sleep. This won't take long.' But for some reason though, that last thought Nitori had felt like a lie he was telling himself.

~

The floorboards were cold despite his fluffy socks, and he didn't turn on the lights in fear of being caught. Despite his search being just innocent concern for his senpai, he couldn't think of a way to explain the situation. And lying wasn't exactly a strong point for Nitori, so he aimed for just sneaking quietly through the hallways of the dorm.

The only doorway with light seeping under it was the bathrooms. The silver haired teen shuffled over and opened the door to peek into the room. But no one was there, or at least visible. Nitori shuffled awkwardly on the spot, then turned the lights off and continued down the hall. The chill of the empty dorm was getting to him now, putting him on further edge as he failed to see anyone up and awake.

He reached the end of the hallway, should he go left or right? Suddenly there was a sharp movement along the left wall. Nitori stopped abruptly and froze in fear.

'What was that?!' His mind echoed. Nitori was shaking again and pressed himself to the wall. After a minute of silence he peeped timidly around the corner.  
It was only the shadow of a tree. Through the windows the little moonlight there was lit up the tree as it's silhouette danced opposite the trembling teen.

"Shadows can't hurt you.." He mumbled to himself.

'But why am I shaking?' Nitori repressed that thought as childish fears and turned left. He'll find Rin and then go back to sleep, it's not like he was searching for a ghost in a haunted building.  
'But why are you shaking?' Why wouldn't he let go of this thought?

As if on cue the room grew colder causing the teen to shake and teeth chatter, but he kept walking. Shortly after he found the source of the cold. There was a breeze coming from an open window just opposite a small stairway, it was barely open like someone had neglected to shut it properly.

Nitori shuffled over, arms wrapped around his body as he reached the little opening, the breeze was picking up as he reached the window. He scanned the courtyard below, looking for any sign of read hair or human movement, but no luck. Rin was still unfound. Sighing the teen yanked at the window and closed it properly. But as he rested his hand on the windowsill, he felt an odd texture embed his palm.

Confused by the grainy presence he inspected his hand. In the faint light he squinted at the place where he felt it.  
White dust..

The same as in his dorm room. This time however there was more, it was finer and crushed into the groove of the windowsill. As if someone had scrapped an object into the wood. But why?  
'I wonder' Nitori pondered/rambled, 'If this is connected to Rin?'

None of this made sense anymore to the timid boy. White grainy dust, Rin's whereabouts? Could this possibly be connected? Nitori even paused for a moment to consider this was only a dream, but the cold room and his goosebumps on his skin were too real and overpowering to be his imagination. Despite his confusion and his own superstition, Nitori turned towards the stairway and continued his search.

The lack of light made the silver haired teen's steps careful, he didn't want to fall in the dark stairwell. The last step creaked under his weight, worn by years of use. But other than that faint sound the ground floor was quiet. Nitori squinted in the dark, he could just make out the two rows of lockers and the distant doors. The left wing of the ground floor only contained three rooms: the locker room for the students, another larger bathroom and a large storage room filled with boxes and other miscellaneous junk. Other than the darkness, the locker room appeared the same as usual, nothing out of place or even an open locker. The door leading out of the building was also closed.

He shuffled along the shiny floorboards towards the large doors. This time Nitori wrapped his hands in the jacket before touching the metal handle, his hands had started to turn a pale blue from the cold air. With a slight jiggle the doors opened and his blue eyes scanned outside. The only things in sight was the distant school buildings and a few trees. Once again, no Rin.

This left a few options: check the bathroom and the storage room, or start again from the right wing of the dorm. He frowned at this thought, the search was already tiring enough, maybe he should just give up.

'Rin could already be back upstairs. What if he is and is now looking for me to?' This sudden idea made Nitori panic and shuffle swiftly back towards the stairs.

"I knew this was a silly idea!" He uttered under his breath, " I better return right now and apologise to R-"

Thud! Suddenly the whole floor echoed with an abrupt and short crash. Nitori turned his whole body towards the sound, slipping and nearly crashing into the bin next to him! At the last moment in a panicked attempt to stay upright he grabbed the stairs bannister, just inches away from falling.

Amongst his own panicked breathing Nitori could hear a distant hissing, it sounded like a creature in pain… but that wasn't possible!

His whole body shook from fear and his hands stung from the impact of grabbing the metal railing. His skin now grew pale from fright instead of the cold and his breath grew shallow.

He wasn't alone. There was something else here. Slowly and quietly Nitori regained balance and stood straight again, staring into the dark room, searching for the source of the sound.

The silence was deathly at this moment. The signs of anyone else had gone. The only sound the fearful boy could hear was his own short breaths. He waited and waited for any sign of someone down here with him, that crash was the only thing.

Then, he heard it. this sound was faint, but it carried and echo in the darkness. Nitori had to strain and focus to make this sound audible at first, but the sound grew more aggressive.

Scraping, a faint but grinding scraping. It was as if someone was raking their hands slowly down an old piece of ceramic- No. grating. It sounded more grating, like something was being slowly destroyed.

The scratching sounds grew, not closer, but the pace was being sped up. Whatever is happening it's nearing the end.

This sudden thought sent Nitori's mind into a rush of conflicting thoughts- 'Run!- Hide- GET OUT! GET HELP! HIDE-'

But as the noise continued, its unidentifiable grating, it caused Nitori to sneak towards the sound. Nitori couldn't explain why, just that he had to know.

The pale blue eyes of the scared boy started to grow accustomed to the dark, Nitori recognised the lockers of the change room, lining the way to the location of the sounds: the showers. A small amount of light broke through the ominously open doorway to the showers.

As if on cue, the hissing returned,distant still but with a sharp release the hiss broke the scraping briefly. Nitori ducked low, startled, but too far gone now to turn around. His curiosity was getting the better of him.

As he etched closer to the doorway, Nitori's fear returned. The grating, scratching- whatever it was, was making his spine shiver in disgust. Fingers down a chalkboard didn't even cover the uncomfortable nature of the sound.

Not even an inch away from the open doorway, Nitori stopped. Covered in the shadows of the empty locker room, he slowly rose to his full height and tried to breath deep breaths to calm his shaking.

HISS. and the scratching stopped again.

'It… It can't be.' Nitori realised, the hissing was definitely human, a hiss of pain from the showers. 'Someone is there!'

Scratch. scratch . scratch. Scratch.

The pace was speeding up again. It was now or never for Nitori. Despite the tears of fear returning and his panicked breathing, Nitori took one deep breath and threw himself around the locker corner….

He froze in shock. Blinded by the flare of light shining off a metal object, Nitori could barely make out the scene, only the red hair of the lone person in the room.

Scratch. Scratch. Scrratchhh….

There he was. Rin. Alone in the bathroom, staring into a mirror on the wall. hissing with pain as tears covered his cheeks. His mouth was gritted in concentration…. And his hands… in his hands he held a sharp metal nail file…

As the silver haired boy stared, the scratching continued.

The sound continued as Rin scraped the nail file along his pearly white teeth. Bringing the young swimmer to tears as he also brought his renowned, shark like teeth, to a point.

Nitori opened his mouth to yell out, but he was beyond shocked and scared by the scene before him. The scraping… It become too much as it pounded in his head louder than his heartbeat..

"Hhel-"

And as the pale boy began to faint, Rin heard his failed cry for help..

….

When Nitori awoke he wasn't on the floor, or his bed. Fluorescent lighting filled the room and the walls were a brilliant shade of white.

"Hey, he's waking up!" That overzealous, chirpy voice could only belong to one person, Momo.

'But what is momo doing here?' Thought Nitori, eyes still adjusting to the bright white room. He slowly rose and saw that he was in the dorms small sick room.

The flash of orange hair that was Momo entered the room again followed by the school dorm nurse.

"How are you feeling now?" the Nurses tone was gentle, but her eyes showed her concern.

He took a moment to think of an answer.

"How… H-how did i end up here?" Nitori flinched at his own words. ' _Why am i so nervous? What happened last night that i ended up in here?'_ He began to shake as he tried to think of any recollection of the night befor.

"Did he hit his head or something?" Momo's words were blunt but he meant well.

The nurse observed Nitori's anxious shaking and squeezed his hand gently, gaining his attention again.

"It's okay. You had a nasty fall last night. We think you might have been having a nightmare and fell from your bunk. Your lucky your fall woke your roommate up! Otherwise your concussion may have been serious!"

 _Her calm voice drew him out of his manic thoughts… 'Just a nightmare… The hallway.. The locker... The blurred images of teeth and tiles.. Rin… All in my head.._

"You gave me quite a scare last night." _That voice._

Nitori turned to his left. He somehow neglected to notice Rin sitting in the corner of the room, right next to him. His face appeared tired, maybe stress but his voice was warm and comforting.

"S-sorry Rin.." His face heated in embarrassment as he apologised to his older friend.

"It's okay, really. Just glad you're awake." He smiled, attempting to put Nitori at ease.

However Nitori couldn't help but blush at Rin's rare smile. he felt bad for causing so much trouble for Rin. Thanks to a bizarre and delirious dream he had injured himself and scared Rin in the process.

The boy started to smile. _Everything is going to be fine._

"We should let you rest. You'll be spending tonight in here as well just to be sure no damage has been done. And You boys should get back to training." The nurse smiled and held the door open for the others.

Momo almost knocked Nitori out again as he jumped onto the bed to hug Nitori goodbye, then ran out the room like the ball of energy he is. Despite the rush of this all the kind gesture just made the timid boy smile. Rin shortly followed, he rose from his seat and gave a small wave as he left the room.

But as he walked through the doorway, something slipped from his jacket, then a tiny clink of a small object hitting the polished floor.

The Nurse failed to see the small metal object. She followed suit and shut the door behind her. Leaving the now panicked Nitori on his own.

Blood frozen. Blue eyes wide in fear. Nitori was left alone in the cold, clean, white room. Well, clean apart from the Shiny metal Nail file. Covered in the white grainy specks of ground teeth.

...

 **A/N: I might come back and edit this since i wrote this in a rush. Reviews are always appreciated!**


End file.
